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QuickTalk 10 - QUICKIE HINTS

From Ron Thornton, #1014-Can.:

1. All of my flying is done at gross weight. The temperature and wind have a great affect on performance, so much so that on a hot, still day, I do not fly. On cool days with a breeze, takeoff length will vary. Initial lift-off, but still in ground effect, is about 800 feet. Level flight in ground effect to gain speed (not necessarily over the runway) another 1500 feet. Once the Quickie is airborne, it is a delight to fly. Controls are very responsive. First-time pilots should keep in mind that these planes do not sink on landing like the trainers they learned on. If you flare over the runway at 10 feet, that's where you will fly until you have lost too much airspeed...and then you DROP (Ouch!). The technique is to flare a couple of feet above the runway and gently ease it to within a few inches, then chop power.


From George Jacoban, #172:

1. My Quickie is complete and flying since May 1980. I have made several mods. First, I placed a drain on the aft end of the fuel tank. The fuel line goes from the tank to the fuel selector to bulb to gascolator on firewall and then pump on engine.

2. With the large wheels, I went to an individual braking system controlled by two levers located on the tank with a mechanical advantage of about 5:1, which gives excellent finger tip control

3. My CHT was running 400-450 degrees and this forced me to close in the front part of the cowl (tight around the prop shaft) and provide two air intake holes lower and outboard of the original openings. This reduced my CHT by about 100 degrees. (See construction photo) I regarded the 5" diameter around the prop hub as ineffective and considered the remaining inlet to be about 7 square inches on each side. My new inlet measures about 11 square inches.



From Gary Wilson, #114:

1. After 14 hours on the test stand, the Westach tachometer lasted 5 minutes in my Quickie. Fortunately, Westberg Company is going to repair it under warranty. Since this seems to be a common complaint, I've also ordered a Carr tach which is supposed to be reliable, as well as easier to read.

2. I wonder how many other builders had to bend their exhaust pipes to clear the fuselage and cowling. I also had to remove approximately 1/8" from the flywheel on the engine side in order to clear the Kevlar mount.

3. (Page 17-4) I was told by another builder that omitting the aluminum angle (ES6) from the engine mounting, especially with the Kevlar mount, would reduce vibration considerably. It seemed to work on his, so I omitted mine. Vibration levels of both are acceptable. His has flown with this configuration for approximately 50 hours.


From Jack Dempsey, #279:

1. I put new ball bearings in my main wheels when the original ones wore out completely after two hours taxi testing.


From Wesley Wall, #100:

1. (Page 11-9) I see where some of the Quickie builders are having trouble with the wheel bearings. I made a spacer to go between the bearings about .002" longer than would be required and installed the axle when I assembled the wheel. When you bolt the wheel together, the spacer will stay in place. The result is that you can tighten the through bolt that holds the inner race from turning. The wheel runs so free it turns all the time I am flying.

2. (Page 11-8) I also installed two small aircraft pulleys on the rear of the canard and split the brake cable to make individual brakes. I have right and left brake levers as well as adjusting turnbuckles and short heavy springs in each line. My levers are built to go over center and give a parking brake. Brake linings were also installed on the scrubber pads. The parking brake will hold the airplane up to 1900 RPM.



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